Smell: dark cherries above all else; there is a little malt smell underneath.

Taste: alcohol and cherries. Semi-sweet, semi-dry, tart; there is a little bitterness but relatively little complexity.

Mouthfeel: light-medium body with medium carbonation. It's fine.

Drinkability: while I love cherries, this beer is almost over the top. At a certain point, it's almost like drinking a fizzy cocktail made with cherry vodka. It's tasty, but definitely a one-at-a-sitting beverage.

I love cherries with a passion and want to give this beer a super high score, but it focuses on cherries almost to the exclusion of everything else.

More User Reviews:

This seems to be a beer you either love, or don't. I think it's an outstanding fruit beer and a great example of the softer side of Belgian brewing. On tap at The Public House in La Jolla.

This has the most delicious cherry flavor with a heavenly scent of cherries. It's so much better than the Lindeman's fruit beers. Bad cherry extract is such a wretched thing, that you should taste this so see how good cherry can taste in a beverage.

This is so deeply fruity with a nice touch of sweetness, but balanced by the tart finish. Rich but light bodied. Attractive red amber color with a fine-grained and long-lasting foam. Zingy on the tongue with just a nice acidity, like real fruit.

Something I picked for me and the wife to enjoy today and I have to say I really impressed with this cherry infused beer.Poured into a small tulip glass a mauve maroon color with a large blooming pink head that clung nicely to the glass as it settled slowly.Wow the mix of sweet and tart is almost candy-like well like a sweet tart,neither overpowers the other.A dessert beer to behold but not wimpy afterall it is 8%alc. but the candied sweetness along with somewaht lactic tartness in the finish just makes you wanna drink more its almost addicting.Fruit infused beers when done right are awesome and this along with Founders Rubeus may be my two favorite,take it for what it is and you will thoroughly enjoy it.

At first glance and aroma I am anticipating some kind of Rodenbach like experience but this beer has neither the body nor the high sugar content of a Rodenbach. On the other hand Kasteel Rouge doesn't have the acidity or level of tart/sour qualities that would be found most lambics. So what is it? I'm not sure but it is pretty good.

It comes to me a pinkish red body with plenty of sparkles and a fat pink head. Solid retention. It immediately begins attracting glances from all the women in the bar. This is one of those beers that once one person orders, everyone orders. It looks pretty and yet, I don't feel too silly drinking it as it is served in a big manly chalice.

The aroma is all sweet candied sugar fruits and tart cherries. There may be hints of a brown ale base but they are light at best.

The body strikes me as surprisingly light and bright. This is a refreshing beer and not as sugary as I expected. Still, the tart cherry notes do not go unbalanced. It's really quite nice with bountiful fruit flavor.

Drinkability is modest. Kasteel Rouge makes a fine desert beer and one chalice goes down nicely. Then again, I'm not sure I would want to drink too many of these.

Available on tap and bottled at Capone's. Initially tried in a sampler set with some pretty heavy duty stouts and IPAs, in which setting it proved to be a quite tasty refreshing cherry beer. It wasn't until several days later when I was drinking the bottle I picked up that I realized what was wrong with it: while being good it more closely resembled carbonated cherry juice rather than of a beer. Very good cherry juice to say the least, nice sweet smell, never cloyed, slightly syrupy but with more than enough carbonation to compensate, but still... I would highly recommend this beer in small quantities as a quick refresher in between tasting some deep stouts or porters, but never in quantity and NEVER as a standalone bottle.

Pours deep red with a fizzy reddish-brown head. The overall color is a bit muddy though.

Aroma blasts forth with cherry. A little medicinal and laffy taffy-ish but good overall.

Flavor is like a cherry candy or bubblegum. Some alcohol comes through and there may be an off flavor due to the age, i'm not sure. Could be compared to cough syrup if one inclined but the mouthfeel isn't really syrupy.

750ml bottle, bottled on 11/27/07 - cork dated 3/08. Pours a murky brownish red (almost plum) with a very small fizzy head that quickly goes to a thin collar that leaves little lacing.

The aroma is subdued - sweet cherries and musty wood.

The flavor is sweet sugary cherries with some tart sourness in the finish. There's some woody malt balance, but the sweetness is a bit cloying. The mouthfeel is medium to full with spritzy carbonation.

Overall, a nice fruit beer. Reminds me a lot of a poor man's New Glarus Belgian Red. It's overly sweet and cloying and needs more balance. I remember liking this a little more on tap.

Stubby bottle pours a clear ruby body with a small and fleeting pink head. Speckles of lace cling to the sides of the goblet. Aroma is sweet black cherries and some earthy yeast. Light medium body has a restrained carbonation. Taste is sweet and tart cherry, almost candy-like. The cherry overwhelms the subdued malt and hops presence. The 8% abv is not noticed. If you like sweet and tart cherries you will enjoy this one.

The beer pours a reddish-purple color with a small white head. The aroma is unmistakable. I get a ton of cherries with nothing else. While the aroma is one dimensional, the cherries are well done. The flavor is more of the same. I get a lot of sweet cherries and maybe a little bit of some caramel or toffee malt. Medium mouthfeel and low carbonation. If you like cherries, you may like this beer. If you don't like them, this is not the beer for you.

Taste: Once again, this is about the cherries. Very sweet and maraschino at first, along with some malt depth, but the cherries have a slight tart cast at the finish. Some light spiciness at the finish as well.

Taste - Quite sweet. Tastes like a cherry champagne with malty after notes. Not very sour and doesn't taste much like a beer.

Mouth Feel - Very sharp carbonation that steals some maltiness. The taste lingers into a slightly cherry-like alkaline finish.

Overall - Very drinkable but unfortunately doesn't taste very beer-like. This isn't a negative, just different than anticipated. Tasted a little 'fake' but still enjoyable if you want to try something different. Would be a great champagne replacement if you want to keep some manly dignity at a celebration.

12oz stubby brown fire plug looking bottle poured into a Chimay chalice,poured a mirky reddish color with a creme colored hue,a 1" creamy white head with a pinkish tint to it. The head fell a bit quick leaving a bit of creamy lace lots of tiny bubbles quickly rising with no stringing. Sort of soda looking.

Smells like cherry ice creme about the best way i could describe it. Has some yeasty doughyness also. Sweet candy-like,yet pleasing enough.

A big strong sour tart cherry taste,very desert-like. Doesn't remind me of beer,yet not offensive,i kind of like it. Sweet sugary upfront with the sour tart cherry taste midway and through the finish with a sweet tart taste lingering. Not syrupy like a lot of fruit beers,has a slight doughy yeasty taste to it, has a bit of a champagne like mouthfeel.Goes down easily the alcohol is pretty well hidden with a very slight touch of heat. Not a beer i could drink more than a couple of,but does go down quite easily. More like a desert beer. If you like cherrie this is the beer for you. Lots of cherry to this beer,yet not to overpowering.